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Boris was expecting another normal day. Get the best seat he can for the performance, try not to fall asleep whenever anyone but Bendy is onstage, and then walk home together with Bendy yapping his ears off about everything that went wrong, who flubbed their lines, and how he really should've gotten the lead in the first place.
What he wasn't expecting was, during halftime, for two little porcelain cups to (rather loudly) sneak their way inside and hide up the back behind the seats on his left.
Boris tilts his head when he sees them, ears on a swivel to try and hear what they're saying above the music. He's catching litte bits here and there, nothing incriminating, but he's had to deal with people sneaking in to ruin Bendy's performance before, and he'd much rather get it out the way now, before anyone else sees.
-
The blue one has his hands clasped together, face wide in an expression of awe. "Ain't they amazin', Cuphead?"
The red one, Cuphead apparently, who's tilting over an empty seat on his tip toes to see, fires back with; "Yeah, but can you hear that demon in the back? He needs to shut up!"
The fur on the back of Boris' neck stands up and he feels his hackles rising instinctively. A familiar thing, the subconscious need to defend. Bendy gets in more trouble than Boris would like to admit. He steps purposely close behind them, enough for the pair to finally notice him and turn around. Well, one of the pair. The blue one squeaks.
He puts the best growl he can into his voice. "That demon is my brother. And I don't think you two belong in here."
The blue one starts stammering an apology and reaching blindly for his brother, who, when he turns around with a blank expression, points straight at Boris without a lick of fear and says;
"You! You wanna go light fireworks with me?"
... Huh?
".. What?" Any threatening words Boris was going to come up with wisp away in his head. His paws, clenched with the prospect of grabbing the two dishes by the back of their necks, now loosen. He glances at the blue one, who looks just as surprised as Boris feels.
"I'm Cuphead!" He jabs a finger to his chest, beaming a crooked, missing-toothed smile. "And you are?" Cuphead holds his hand out like he's expecting something.
"Uh, I'm.. Boris. Boris the Wolf." Hesitantly, Boris places his hand in Cuphead's. He gets yanked and shaken so violently it could probably be classified as aggravated assault.
When Boris frees himself, he hazards a look at the stage. Nobody's noticed yet. Cuphead keeps talking.
"Nice to meet ya, Boris!" The cup keeps yapping, but Boris' ears can't keep up with him. The blue one's eyes keep skirting back between them, frozen like he's stuck between yanking Cuphead away and bolting, and wanting to stay for the show.
Cuphead turns and darts for the exit while Boris is still trying to process his words.
"I know a place! C'mon, I'll race ya!" Cuphead waves his hands and shouts, already running.
"Hey, wait-" Boris tries, but he's out the doors in a blink. He growls to himself. Little fucker already got a head start, and now Boris has to chase after him to make sure he doesn't kill himself.
He glances back at the blue one, who's still clutching the bottom of his sweater and standing there all wide-eyed.
"I'll go make sure your brother doesn't.. die, or something, just stay here. " He huffs
... Whatever. There's worst ways to spend a Saturday.
-
With a sly giggle and the promise of the porcelain stranger knowing a place, Boris lets himself be lured away from the show, all the way through the neighboring forest, and up to the edge of a canyon.
Once Boris catches his breath and stops cursing, he realizes it's... actually pretty nice. Secluded, nature all around him, the picture would be quaint and quiet, an ideal place for him to run away or sleep for a couple hours uninterrupted, if not for the grotesquely bright bundle of fireworks and the crazy cup from before, standing at the very edge. Boris' heart lurches for a second.
He turns around mid search, and his whole face lights up. Not like the warm rays of the sun, Boris thinks, something more like the bright reflection of an arson attack.
"You made it!"
"No where much else to go." He shrugs. That stare is starting to make him feel awkward.
"Why are ya just standing there? Don't ya wanna sit down? Unless.." Cuphead's smile grows wicked. "You wanna join me and light em up yourself?"
Boris suppresses a shiver. "I'll pass. But, thanks for the offer. "
Cuphead shrugs. "Suit yourself!"
The grass rustles under Boris' weight as he sighs heavily. The cup is humming away, and Boris' eyes nearly pop out his head when he picks up a firework twice his height and width with no difficulty.
This kid really ain't right. For whatever reason, he must get a kick out of doing dumb and dangerous stuff. That's probably why he led Boris up here and talked to him in the first place, but even still...
"Hey, um.." Boris lowers his head. "Do I not seem.. scary to you?"
"Well, I'm real good at reading people, see?" Not what he asked, but okay.
Cuphead puts his hand to his chest in pride. "So you did seem kinda scary, but you also just mostly seemed lonely."
He says it so flippantly that Boris can't help but get defensive. "I'm not lonely." He huffs.
Cuphead doesn't look back from where he's setting up another firework. "Oh yeah? Then who's your friends? Don't say your brother."
Boris opens his mouth but shamefully, no noise comes out. Damn. He was about to say Bendy.
He shakes his head. "Alright, where are all your friends then? And you can't say your brother either! "
Cuphead snickers. "Got me there!"
"If we're sharing questions, do I not seem a little coo-coo to you?" Cuphead swirls his finger in a circle beside his head.
Boris grimaces. "Yeah.. but I guess that's why I followed you? I didn't want you to... die, or light yourself on fire, or something.."
"Why?"
"Wh-Why, what do you mean why?" Boris asks.
Cuphead shrugs. "Why d'ya not want me to die? You got no obligation to keep me alive."
Boris raises his hand to argue, but can't say anything. Because he thinks people dying is bad, obviously? Because Bendy says he's got too soft a heart? Because there was something undeniable in those red, manic eyes that intrigued Boris, that made him want to follow a stranger? Too many answers, none of them solid or good.
"I guess.." Boris picks at the grass. "Your brother would be sad if you died. "
Cuphead blows a raspberry, holding a lit match dangerously close to the end of the firework. Where did he even get that from? "Gimme a better answer than that. He'd probably be relieved he ain't stuck with me no more. "
Boris scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Fine, I just didn't like the idea of you dying, even if you are a stranger."
Cuphead snickers. "You're funny, puppy."
"I like your hair, by the way. You kinda look like this guy from my radio show, Dirk Dangerous, he's a villain but it's not a bad thing, he's cool!"
Boris blinks and tries to process the words shot at him a hundred miles per hour. "Thanks." He mumbles.
Cuphead tilts his head. "Doesn't it get hard to see sometimes though?"
"Sometimes..." He admits, blowing the fur out of his eyes.
Boris bites the inside of his mouth. Weird. This kid seems chatty, funny, the type who should have tons of friends. So why doesn't he? What's up with him? Is it the reckless and possibly suicidal tendencies that scare people away? Maybe the... general aura of something being off?
When the first loud bang and crackle of the firework goes off, Boris curses loudly and covers his ears.
He can faintly hear Cuphead laughing with insane glee, but doesn't realize until he opens his eyes again and shakes again like it'll get the noise out his fur, that Cuphead wasn't laughing at the firework.
That smile is directed at him. Whatever it means, Boris' heart does a funny little swooping thing in his chest.
"You've got a filthy mouth, wolf boy!"
Boris' face goes warm. "Sorry." He mumbles.
"Nah, it's okay!" Cuphead waves his hand in a forget about it motion. "I think it's funny! Elder Kettle would've made me and Mugs eat soap for that."
Boris' ears stick up. "Hey, where is that Elder Kettle of yours? Don't tell me he lets you run away and play with your life."
Cuphead goes still for a fraction of a second, then goes to grab the next firework. The motions look mechanical, a disturbing contrast to how he was just a minute prior.
Boris gets the distinct impression that he's just asked something he shouldn't have.
He clears his throat and hugs his knees a little tighter.
"Hey, what happens if you light two at once?"
Cuphead gasps. "Oh, you're a genius!"
This kid really is strange.
"... Where did you even get that many fireworks from in the first place?"
"Easy, Porkrind!" He says.
Like Boris knows who that is anyway. Probably a friend of his or just someone else trying to make a living the easiest way they can. Which is, apparently, selling illegal fireworks to porcelain preteens.
He lets out a deep sigh. This is gonna be a long day.
Boris rests his head on his knees. It's pleasantly warm up here, not cloying in a way that makes his fur stick, the grass is soft and fresh under his feet, and the wind ruffles his fur. If he can tune out the company, this place isn't so bad. A refreshing break from the cityscape him and Bendy are used to. He tunes out the next couple explosions by focusing on what Bendy might say if he was here, and what he might have for dinner.
"Think fast, Wolfy! Can't have you falling asleep on me!"
Boris opens his eyes just fast enough to catch the firework hurtling towards his face. A fucking firework. He fumbles with it in a panic before he realizes there's no burning hiss or sharper scent of gunpowder stinging his nose.
The firework isn't lit.
Cuphead is laughing his ass off.
The fur on his back bristles. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Boris snarls. "You couldn't have gotten me up normally?"
"Where's the fun in that?" Cuphead shrugs, wiping his eyes.
"That was more like an insane murder attempt than a joke."
Cuphead nods. "Those are the best kind of jokes."
Boris doesn't know whether to throw it right back in his smug porcelain face or just get up and leave. Instead, he drops fully onto the ground with a loud groan.
"You aren't right. "
"Cmon, Wolfy, don't be like that! Aren't we having fun? That one's a dud anyway, wouldn't work even if I lit it! I tried!"
Ignoring that dangerous logic, Boris keeps his eyes firmly shut. If another firework comes his way, so be it. He can't exactly care anymore.
"Mm."
"Besides, I don't think either of us were having fun back there."
That makes Boris open his eyes. He sits up.
"It's not that I wasn't enjoying it. I.. I kinda have to go. For Bendy."
"Yeah, but did you actually like it, or did you just go with what your brother wanted?" Cuphead is leaning back on the biggest firework, the last one left. That cannot be safe.
Boris runs his tongue along his teeth and thinks of the right words. "....I don't think long performances are for me, that's all."
Cuphead snorts. "You can say that again!"
"What, you not a fan either?"
"No way!" Cuphead's eyebrows shoot up. "It's always so long and boring, and I can never sit still through them! The last time me and Mugs went to some fancy-schmancy performance, we hijacked it and made it better!"
That makes Boris laugh. Quietly, because any louder makes it feel like that crackpot is somehow winning at something.
Said crackpot hears him laugh anyway and a deranged grin splits his face. A face like that should definitely make Boris scared. Should. "I'm dead serious, Wolfy!"
"There's no way in hell you two got away with that." He shakes his head, still smiling.
Cuphead shrugs. "What can I say, me and Mugs are fast runners!"
Boris looks off to the side at the horizon. "So you can listen to hours of a radio show, but not a live performance. "
Cuphead wags his finger from where he's setting up the last firework. "See, the difference is, I don't gotta sit still for the whole of Dirk Dangerous. I can get up and do whatever I want and still be listenin'!"
"So sitting still is your issue here?"
"Yep. Exactly. One of the reasons why I got kicked outta school."
Boris frowns. "You got.. kicked out?"
The last firework, the biggest and most dangerous looking, shoots off with an earsplitting bang and crackle of million red and green sparks drifting down into the canyon. Cuphead is silent throughout it.
"Yeah, " He sighs. "It's kinda a bother, but I ain't too worried about it. Mugs, my brother, he's still going, and he's smarter than me, so that's more important."
".. You can read and count at least, right?"
"Count, duh. Even babies can count. Reading, " Cuphead makes a scrunched face "Nah."
A thought passes through Boris' head. He chews his bottom lip.
"Do you want me to... " He might regret asking this. His feet shuffle in the grass. "Teach you?"
Cuphead looks at him with a completely blank, new expression Boris hasn't seen from him before. Hopefully something like surprise, and not so shocked and offended that he'll chuck another firework at Boris.
There's a bit of an uncomfortable pause while they stare at eachother. Boris was never good at eye contact.
Cuphead tilts his head. "You serious?"
"Yeah."
"Huh."
Cuphead goes silent while he thinks again. Boris wishes he knew what was going on in that porcelain head of his.
"That's nice and all, Wolfy, but I think I really am a lost cause. That's what all the teachers said, anyways. " The only thing more alarming than that statement itself is the easy smile that goes with it. "You don't gotta worry about all that."
Boris sighs to himself and lets it go. He falls back on the grass again, arms at his side with his fingers in the soft grass, and closes his eyes.
"Well, you're all outta fireworks. " Boris says. "What are we gonna do now?"
Cuphead copies him and lays down on the ground next to him, but with his arms spread out like he's going to make snow angels.
They look at each other.
"Do you wanna fight?"
"I'm twice your size."
"And?"
Fuck it, why not. They don't have anything better to do.
-
One black eye, two bloody noses, a matching set of bruises and a twisted ankle later, Boris decides not to underestimate someone smaller (and crazier) than him ever again.
Somehow, they ended up in another conversation about nothing at all, with Cuphead daring him more and more outlandish things.
"No way I'd fight Mickey!"
"Why, think you can't beat him?" Cuphead muses to himself. "I think I could. Definitely could. " He punches the air, as if Mickey is in front of him.
"No, it's not about whether I could beat him, it's like-" Boris moves that persistent bit of fur out his eyes. 'It's the principle of the thing. I'm not fighting my idol."
Cuphead snorts. "That's your idol? Mickey?"
"Alright then, who's your idol?"
"Dirk Dangerous." He answers.
Boris shakes his head. He should probably be offended on Mickey's behalf, but right now he actually doesn't mind. "Gods, of course. I should've guessed."
He jabs a finger at Cuphead. "Okay, would you fight Dirk Dangerous?"
Cuphead's entire face lights up in a grin and he raises his fists. "Hell yeah I would! He's so cool!"
"You're so weird, " Boris laughs. He's been doing that a lot today, surprisingly. Cuphead doesn't seem bothered by the comment and just smiles wider.
The mid afternoon sun bathes them both in liquid gold. Boris finds that, maybe, that insane smile is a little more tolerable in a warmer hue and when he feels this calm and light. Like their scrap earlier released some long-built, heavy tension that settled itself in his bones.
A screw must've been knocked loose in his brain when that cup punched him for the first time.
The shrill sound of the blue- sorry, Mugman's voice echoes through the forest behind them. Boris' ears prick up.
He points a thumb over his shoulder. "Hey, uh, I think your brother's calling for you. "
Cuphead twists his head around with a cartoonishly wide frown. "Aw, rats! I thought we'd have more time!"
It doesn't seem to bother him too much though, because Cuphead bounds past Boris towards his brother's voice.
He twists back while running to shout and wave goodbye. "Thanks for giving me new ideas! See you soon, wolfy boy!" His grin is so big and blinding that Boris doesn't even process the nickname until Cuphead is out of sight.
"Hey, that's not my..." Boris sighs. It's futile anyway.
... If Mugman is back, that must mean the show is over. Bendy's show. That Boris just ditched to light fireworks for two hours and wrestle with a crackpot.
He curses himself and starts running, already forming an excuse and an apology to Bendy.
-
"Where were you?" Bendy demands, hands on his hips.
Boris rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry. Got dragged away by... somethin'. Tell me what I missed?"
Bendy sighs, grabs his wrist and starts walking anyway, mouth already moving a hundred miles an hour.
The smell of smoke and the thought of a red straw linger in Boris' fur the whole walk home.
***************************
mini blueink scene cuz I'm yaoiful like that!!
( "I mean," Bendy talks with his hands, waving them around like he's conducting an imaginary orchestra, "Half of these people don't know what they're doing. Why get on stage if you can't even walk in a straight line? It's just so hard to find people who are serious about this stuff."
Mugman nods rapidly, enraptured. "I know! And it's so difficult to find people who'll really appreciate the arts for what they are!"
"Exactly." He tips his head back, vindicated.
Mugman snickers to himself. "I mean, my brother, he's a dunce who just can't understand this stuff-My brother!" He jumps up from his spot on the edge of the stage.
Bendy looks at him curiously. "What about your brother?"
"He-he ran off ages ago to go do something stupid with this scary wolf, he's probably dead by now!" He yanks and pulls at the frayed neck of his sweater.
"I'm really sorry, Mr Bendy, I wish I could talk to you more, but I've gotta go save my brother!"
Bendy's face pulls in disappointment, but he gives in. "Alright, I understand." He sighs.
Mugman nods gratefully, but just as he's about to dash off, Bendy taps him on the shoulder.
He holds out a little blue daisy by his tail, hands behind his back, a sweet but fake thing they used during the show that Bendy must've pocketed. "I'll see you at the next show?"
Mugman's eyes go sparkly. "Yes, yes, of course! I'll be there!"
Bendy smiles. "Good."
And with a stumble in his step, Mugman is off.)